September 25, 2013 --
It’s not surprising Steve Torrence is more than ready to end the Countdown to the Championship misery he has been suffering for the last two weeks.

Call it a slump, or struggling, or whatever, he just wants it to be over. It certainly is not the plan he had in mind to begin NHRA’s Countdown races playoff races.

Steve and his dad Billy have had maddening playoff starts, and it affects Steve more because he is chasing those coveted points. Neither has won round of racing after stops at Charlotte and Dallas.

Their outlook has changed, however, after taking advantage of Monday’s off day spent testing at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis.

“We learned quite a bit working on the cars,” Steve said, “and we solved a lot of problems. Now we are excited about racing Friday in St. Louis.

“I am in 10th place and we are going to do whatever we can to move up in the next four races,” Torrence remarked. “We definitely made the car better, and we learned a lot more about it. We have a lot more confidence in it.”

The AAA Insurance Midwest Nationals begin a three-day run at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill., Sept. 27-29.